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Phishing

Phishing is the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing emails may contain links to websites that are infected with malware. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail spoofing or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to deceive users, and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies. Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures.

Google can't say "mission accomplished" just yet, but the search giant made it clear that the Internet is winning its decade-old war against phishing and spam emails. In a blog post published Friday, Google said the Internet-wide efforts against unau...

In a new effort to expand its transparency report, Google has started publishing data on websites that host malware and phishing scams on Tuesday. "Two of the biggest threats online are malicious software (known as malware) that can take control of y...

Google revealed on Wednesday that phishing activity in Iran has jumped, as its citizens prepare to hit the polls on Friday. For nearly three weeks, the search giant has "detected and disrupted" tens of thousands of Iranian user accounts that were tar...

Android, the world's most popular smartphone operating system, has malware issues. We knew that already. But a new report suggests these issues are only destined to worsen. In fact, 99.9% of new mobile malware detected in the first quarter of 2013 is...

We all thought it was a joke, but it wasn't. The Onion really got hacked on Monday, and it was indeed victim of the Syrian Electronic Army (SAE), the pro-Assad group of "hacktivists" who have been hacking media companies left and right. In an unusual...

Cyber criminals are always looking for new ways to avoid detection, escape cyber sleuths, and carry out their cyber crimes. So it shouldn't be surprising that malicious hackers are now taking advantage of social media. A newly discovered malware, des...

You can't imagine ever getting scammed. Besides being a diligent Internet user who knows the ins and outs of web terrain, you have an email account that siphons all harmful messages into a neat little folder, which you never even check. So you're com...

The latest Facebook phishing scam tricks people into thinking they're verifying their Facebook information while actually giving away personal data. The scam works when a user clicks on what looks like a link from a friend in a tweet or post. That li...

Phishing scams on social networks have shrunk considerably in October, and spam in general has decreased too, according to a report by Internet security giant Kaspersky Lab released last Friday. Compared to September, phishing attacks -- emails that ...

Phil Lin is director of product marketing for FireEye. He brings more than 15 years of industry and marketing experience from top-tier companies such as Check Point, Zone Labs, WebEx, and Andersen. A few weeks ago the U.K. government agency, Action F...

We've all heard the horror stories: credit card fraud, pyramid schemes, phishing, identity theft -- the list of scams goes on and on. "Oh, that won't happen to me," you think. "I know the signs." No one wants to think he'll be counted among the foole...

Scams, much like viral cat videos, are a staple of the Internet. Even the savviest of Internet users can still get tangled in the web's latest harmful trick -- such as these 10 highlighted from the past year. The Better Business Bureau has released t...

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL have joined forces to thwart purveyors of phishing -- those emails that attempt to trick users into giving up personal information. The companies, along with financial services providers Bank of America and Fidelity I...

As hacks go, Zappos's attack over the past weekend could have been a lot worse. If you're one of the estimated 24 million affected Zappos or 6PM.com (an affiliate site) customers, you can take solace in the fact that only the last four digits of your...

A recent study surveyed multiple companies and found that 43% of their employees clicked on simulated bad links that led to phishing attacks and malware. "Many don’t realize just how susceptible their employees are to phishing attacks, or they think ...

Be careful the next time you scan a QR code, because it might just cost you money and wreak havoc on your smartphone. That's the warning from Kaspersky Lab, which has noticed the first instance of QR code tampering. The incident took place in Russia ...

Who would know better about how to deal with online scams and swindles than the Better Business Bureau (BBB)? When people are ripped off, the trusted organization is the first place many victims will go to file a complaint, and this infographic shows...

Using Google+? Add Mashable to your circles. You'll get the latest about new Google+ features and tips and tricks for using the platform as well as top social media and technology news. Malicious hackers have targeted Google's social networking servi...

How much do you know about protecting the computer you carry with you every day -- your mobile device? As mobile gaming, mobile commerce and mobile computing in general explode, so do the opportunities for mobile exploits. Put simply, tapping the wro...

A Facebook phishing attack is on the loose this weekend -- the third widespread attack on the site in the past three weeks. The attack attempts to steal your Facebook login credentials, install malware on your computer and even get your home address....

Aza Raskin, the creative lead for Firefox, has just posted about a new type of potential phishing attack, dubbed "tabnabbing." Raskin has a proof-of-concept and an explanation for how this type of attack could work. Tabnabbing operates in reverse of ...

Today, the Federal Trade Commission permanently shut down 3FN, a Belize-based Internet service provider (ISP) notorious for hosting botnets, child pornography, phishing attacks and various other scams and malware. The ISP has been ordered to pay back...

New research from Kaspersky Lab shows that the number of phishing attacks on social networks has increased in the first quarter of 2010, especially at Facebook, the fourth most popular online target. The primary target is PayPal, the victim of more t...

Twitter users are reporting a new attempt to extract their usernames and passwords -- a Direct Message attack that asks "You're on here?" with a link. Others report DMs linking to a site called "mhansenhome" with the message "someone posted on their ...

Spam and phishing have been ongoing problems at Twitter for some time, and tonight the company announced that it is stepping up its efforts to stop them with some new features, described as being able to “detect, intercept, and prevent the spread of ...

Another wave of Twitter phishing has erupted this afternoon, with a spat of direct messages that read “somebody wrote something about you in this blog here” with a link to an ominous short URL. That short URL asks users to log in to Twitter, but one ...

A couple of days ago we wrote about a new Twitter phishing attack, which spreads via messages such as “This you????”, followed by a link to a fake Twitter login page. Need proof that the attack is very serious? You need not look very hard, as BBC cor...

In the last couple of weeks, Twitter users have been the target of several large-scale phishing attacks, and according to security experts over at Sophos, the latest one is no different. The attack spreads via messages with the text "This you????" fo...

Yesterday we wrote about a new phishing attack on Twitter, which lured unsuspecting users into giving away their Twitter credentials. The compromised accounts were then used to spread the attack further via direct messages containing text such as “lo...

Numerous Twitter users are pointing out that Twitter forced them to change their passwords out of the blue. According to blogger Andrew Girdwood, these users have received an e-mail containing the following message: “Due to concern that your account ...

Be on the lookout for a current spate of phishing tactics spreading on Facebook via the chat feature. The attack employs similar methods to those used by past scams, using hijacked user accounts to send chat messages with a generic message and a link...

You have to credit the phishers and scammers: they are persistent in their attempts to hijack your Twitter account. They scammed many uses back in September and updated their tactics in October. Now they're at it again with similar tactics but a diff...

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